I stopped reading romance novels when I was fifteen. The heroines were boring me and there wasn’t enough about the men. Now I can look back and realize that I wasn’t identifying because the male POV was so underrepresented. When that started to change, I got back into romance. Then I found slash—TWO male POV’s. I never looked back. But that fresh love of romance is slowly dwindling because of the gluttony of clichés. Namely, my least favorite, The Oh Noes I’m Gay plotline.
Being gay should be addressed. Hatred and bigotry and all of that should be included in books. Prejudice and hate is prevalent today. And the closer we get to equality, the more the nutjobs are going to kick and scream. Although, I did read a recent comment about how there’s hardly gay prejudice in the workplace and everything is peachy keen for gays in today’s awesome society. This from a gay man oO.
Let’s be clear, society is not shitting rainbows and spurting the milk of human kindness at gays from sparkly titties. It’s just getting better. Because of people like you. But The Woe Is Me, I’m Gay routine is kinda over for me. Not completely, but for the most part.
I live with prejudice every day. I came out as trans to the people who play date with our dogs. They stopped responding to my calls and texts–which was how we set up the dates. After four tries, I gave up. Six people stopped playing Scrabble with me online because I told them what I wrote and that I was trans. These were long term game partners that I played with daily. My husband even freaked out when he heard I came out to the doggy play-date people and he’s as supportive as they come. I live it, therefore I don’t want to read it. I have a feeling that’s the deal with a lot of clichés in the m/m world.
Hang with me here Gay Angst Lovers. Put the tomatoes down and let me clarify.
A while back, I read this awesome discussion on The Slash Pile about what tropes people hated. Funnily enough, as many people hated one trope, there were five that loved it. That’s true about The Gay too, right? I mean, I’m sure there are plenty of you out there reading this article and going “But I like The Gay Plotline”. So let’s state fully, and for the record, Tropes Are Good and We Love Them but Clichés Are Very Very Bad and We Hate Them More Than Rick Santorum Hates His Himself For Wanting to Suck Dick.
Tropes Good. Cliché Bad. Got it? Okay, let’s analyze!
I’m going to talk about my book now–assuming that most of you who give a shit what I say have already read it =). I’d pick another book, but I can’t get into another author’s head. So this isn’t a promotional whirlwind (if it was, I’d post this closer to Not So Innocent’s release date. PS: don’t ask about that =P).
I have some tropes I really love: Opposites Attracting—esp young innocent/older knowing guy, free spirit/uptight guy, poor/rich, cop/rentboy etc. I write stories I want to read, so I grabbed a bunch of those tropes, read a book about writing and used its advice: “What if?”
Cop/rentboy, rich/poor, young innocent/older knowing, free spirit/uptight guy = Shattered Glass—but wow all those tropes in one story? How not to make that so cliché that I bored myself with my own kinks?
So I asked myself, What if?
Start with the easy stuff. What if the older guy wasn’t the top? What if the cop wasn’t the top? What if The Gay wasn’t the story?
What if, like real life, The Gay was a thorn and not the brier patch?
What if Austin was rich, but that only brought him down? It didn’t give him Agency, but it actually was his Achille’s heel? And because of it, he was immature, selfish, friendless, family-less and self-involved.
What if Peter wasn’t a hooker with a heart of gold. What if he was manipulative, selfless to the point of ridiculous, guilt-ridden, dangerous, a liar and using Austin for his money?
Well, how do you make these men—the manipulative liar and the rich self-absorbed manboy—sympathetic?
Well, okay, I could do something cliché, like make Peter turn into goo and this utterly compassionate sweetheart, genius with a forty inch cock.
And I could make Austin this totally loved, amazing cop who bedded women and left them breathless for air and unable to comprehend how he could possibly be gay when he could fuck like a Love Craft™ Magic Fantasy 3500.
Excuse me while I clear my throat and mouth of the vomit that came from that thought.
Austin protects young kids and those at risk of being victimized, he uses self-deprecating humor, he doesn’t lie, not even to himself. But the one trait I find most loveable about Austin is his longing for a family. Which came ready-made with Peter. Notice that Austin didn’t get a baby like the cliché of romance. He wants a family, he gets one. I give him his happy ending. But not a traditional one—he gets a son that he’ll never get to call “son” and he gets Cai—a full grown teenager with mental health issues. Oh yeah, it’s pretty obvious that Austin was a terrible lover. More than one woman said so in the story. Another cliché down in flames.
Then there’s Peter, who loves with his whole heart and soul and will protect those he loves by doing anything for them. He’s kind, considerate and everyone misjudges him because he constantly has to watch his facial ticks. His whole life people viewed him as beautiful-but-cold (very clichéd in romance), but unlike typical heroes, he’s fully aware of what he looks like and he’ll use that beauty whenever and however necessary. And I like that about him. No, I LOVE that about him.
Good points without clichés are harder. I’m not sure I was entirely successful in keeping them out of the realm of the Gary Stu in that category, but I doubt you’ll find many other characters with the glaringly obvious flaws. And only one of them was fixed by the end: Austin’s stereotyping.
My last cliché to break was the ending. Austin didn’t have some miraculous change. Neither did Peter. Only our perceptions of them and why the acted like they did changed. Austin still made crass jokes, he still took very little seriously, he was still an asshole. And Peter still manipulated to get his way. He still lied. He still used his looks and he still maintained an iron grip on Cai.
Spoiler ALERTS FOR NOT SO INNOCENT
So let’s take my next novel, Not So Innocent. What’s are the tropes in there?
Young Innocent/ Sophisticated older man, Sophisticate/Unconventional, The I’ve Been Raped Trauma, The Alpha Male Syndrome, The Super Genius.
What did I hate about older novels? The value of innocence and the value of virginity. What else did I hate? That rape became this way of saying that sex didn’t happen and that the characters were virginal or still “pure”. Like what the fuck? Virginity is the most sacred altar we should all worship? The voices in my head are going NO NO NO NO NO. (yes, Darryl is loudest with his “FUCK NO!”)
So the first thing I did about Cai was I stripped him of any virginity. He had fun in Europe. He didn’t wait for Riley, no matter how much he loved him. And Riley values that. Riley approves of that.
I don’t find anything wrong with virginity. Please don’t take it that way. But I find things wrong in the devaluing of the sexually adventurous.
You know what? I wrote more, but I deleted it. That’s all you get from NSI =D. Just one of the tropes that I disintegrated and rebuilt into my own vision.
Two last teases: All the sex scenes are from Riley—the Top’s POV =). Whatever you think about Darryl, this article should tell you that things aren’t what they seem.
So let’s try a game in the comments section of this post. Pick your favorite trope, reply below and then let’s play: What If?
11 comments
lucky_papi
But I like
the gay plotline!! 😛
Tannin Sitri
I really love this line ”
I don’t find anything wrong with virginity. Please don’t take it that way. But I find things wrong in the devaluing of the sexually adventurous.” Just had to tell you that. This entire post was wonderful, but that line really stood out for me. As for your question, I think I love the twisted up tropes like you showed. I was glued to your book from the very first page and then turned around and reread it as soon as I finished. After hundreds of the same old thing, it was like breathing pure fresh oxygen for the first time in years.
Carnell
Very interesting post
Dani 🙂
But dammit, I like
the gay plotline!! 😛
“Let’s be clear,
society is not shitting rainbows and spurting the milk of human kindness at
gays from sparkly titties.”
I would kill to see
that someday 🙂
Sorry to hear that
you have to deal with bigotry everyday. But I’m not surprised at all. Yeah, the
world is beginning to change but there still is a long road ahead. I would like
to think that the next generation will be more understandable and accepting but
how could they be if their parent keep teaching them that differences are not
the normality. I was at a party a month ago and there was this 20 something
pregnant girl I was seeing for the first time. We started talking about gay
people, don’t know exactly why in the first place, and she said that she could
never accept her child if he happens to be gay! So yeah, long road ahead.
Before discovering MM
romance, I watched tv shows with gay storylines. Kyle Lewis and Oliver Fish,
from OLTL, American soap were one of the first tv show I followed. Kyle and Oliver met at college and fell in love.
Oliver, only child is in the closet and was raised in a catholic family. He
knows if he comes out, he will lose his parents and he is not ready for this.
During a parent weekend, Oliver’s mother found them together in Oliver’s dorm.
She is shocked but not as much as Oliver who throw Kyle out and tells his mom
that nothing happened. Their storyline in the show starts with Kyle’s return in
town.
I was so touched by
Oliver and his struggles that I started wondering what would be my reaction if
one of my kids were gay. But what truly shocked me was the fact that Oliver was
afraid of telling his parents, he was forced to hide from them who he really
was.
So when I started
reading MM romance, I obviously read gay plotline romance to try to understand
what people are going through when they acknowledge that they are gay and to
“educate” myself and people around me because if there’s one thing I want my
kids to know is that they can tell me everything.
That being said,
clichés are very boring. And it’s true that after reading a few books, you are
faced with the same plot and clichés again and again.
I think all the
things you mentioned in your post about your book are the reasons I love “Shattered
Glass” so much (BTW, I just ordered the paperback!!! Go me!!! Cannot wait
to receive it :).
NSI: I like this idea
of Cai having fun in Europe and that Riley approves of that (and how could he
not? He’s the one who rejected him in the first place, right?)
Darryl, well I’m sure
that under this “big mouth” is hidden a person with a terrible lack of
self-confidence.
I like reading
suspense, thriller, cop books now, the ones with “a real plot” and a gay
storyline in the mix.
So, let’s try your
game: what would my tropes be?
Cop/bad guy
What
if the cop wasn’t the hero who wants to save the world? What if the cop wasn’t
the closeted case? What if he wasn’t the *dom* in his relationship?
What
if the bad guy has a heart of gold? What if he only kills the bad guys (like Dexter)?
Not
sure I did great but I like this game 🙂
BTW, when will be released NSI?? 😛
Sorry, couldn’t help myself. Take your time. We’ll be here when
it will come out. 🙂
J.A. Rock
A few years ago I read Peter Cameron’s Someday This Pain Will Be Useful
to You, and was blown away by the idea of a YA book with a gay
protagonist whose parents were cool with his sexuality. And not even in a
“We’re gonna march in a pride parade with you, honey,” way. The parents
were just kind of like “If you are or aren’t, it doesn’t matter. We’re
just curious.” I was like, WAIT. Parents in gay YA books are supposed to
kick their kids out of the house. Or beat them. Or at least weep.
In the book I’m working on now, one of the characters has mommy issues –
some of which relate to his coming out. Even though I sometimes get a
little tired of reading about LGBTQ characters estranged from their
parents because of their sexual orientation, lack of
family/friend support for LGBTQ individuals is still a major issue, and by no means do I think it’s time to stop writing about it.
So I tried to play the what if game. What if the character with the
dickhead parents isn’t the one with the lingering psychological issues
that keep him from functioning properly in a relationship? What if the
character with the totally supportive mom is the dysfunctional one? What
if the character with the dickhead parents is like, “Yeah, I have
dickhead parents, and sometimes it really bothers me, but…I’m building
a rich, fulfilling life outside my family.”
I’m not saying I totally turned a cliche on its head and stomped on it
there, but I did “what if” it until I reached a point where I could be
happy with the storyline.
Great post! I loved the part about virginity. Sacred virginity is one of my huge NOs.
SaraAlva
This was fun to read 🙂 Gosh, what is my favorite…probably just a general ‘opposites attract’. I also love switching.
BTW I’m totally on board with your notion of virginity. One of my female characters in the short I wrote for GA is too 😛
Dani Alexander
Anything about those you love/hate/would change?
SaraAlva
Hmm…I hate when the shy/quieter/ person is ‘fake’ unattractive. Does that make sense? Sorta like those movies where you know the “ugly duckling girl” is going to end up being attractive…but at the start she has frizzy crimped hair and braces and glasses.
I don’t see that exact thing replicated in m/m romance, but I have seen it where both supposed opposites just happen to be ridiculously attractive, except one dresses a little schlumpier and has lower self-esteem.
Not opposite-ish enough for me 😛
Janet
I like older/younger also, but not with just the older being the top I love when they switch it up, now I think that’s hot!
Dani Alexander
Switching is great. That’s my biggest overcome for stories, finding switching partners believable when the younger ones are usually so submissive. =)
Melissa
My favorite is definitely the older/younger aspect 🙂 can’t stay away from those if I tried 🙂 something about the forbidden nature keeps me coming back for more!
Dani Alexander
That’s one of mine too. Especially the shy guy. I had to lchange my own inclinations in order to make Cai less cliche =D LOL